Art Of Persuasion – Lessons from A Master Brand Storyteller

I’m thankful to be part of an industry that boasts the likes of Bill Bernbach, George Lois, Leo Burnett and David Ogilvy.

They all shared one talent that made them shine above the rest and brilliant at what they do, the art of persuasion through masterful storytelling. They were exceptional brand storytellers.

This talent is as important today as it ever was.

One adman’s view I particularly subscribe to is that of Bill Bernbach.

“Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art.”

Bernbach had deep insight into human nature. He believed that in order for brand communicators to become human persuaders they needed to get at the heart of what motivates people.

Bernbach believed that successful communicators are not only concerned with what they put into a piece of writing but what the reader gets out of it; they’re “students of how people read and listen”.

Good communicators understand that readers read with their ego, their emotions, their compulsions, their prejudices, their urges, their aspirations and that they plot with their brain to rationalize the facts until they become the tools of their desires.

Good communicators must therefore be good storytellers.

Human beings are creative by nature, instincts such as storytelling are embedded at the heart of our psyche and we’re all hard wired to react to them.

New age brand communicators must therefore master the art of storytelling and learn to balance emotion and intellect in order to succeed.